Dean Elgar calls on SA’s cricket bosses to make ‘right calls’ for Tests

Proteas veteran and current captain Dean Elgar has called on South Africa’s cricket bosses to make the “right calls” after opting to select a weakened team for the Test tour of New Zealand, with the majority of first-choice players withdrawn from the squad to feature in the second edition of the SA20 competition.

The two-Test tour to New Zealand, starting at the end of this month, clashes with the money-spinning SA20, which got underway last year. The second edition of the T20 competition will again feature a host of international players as well as most of the Proteas’ Test stars.

The Test squad to New Zealand will be captained by Neil Brand of the Titans.

‘Sad gone into that direction’

Elgar, who will captain the Proteas side in his final Test against India starting at Newlands on Wednesday before retiring from the Test arena, on Tuesday said it was “sad” that cricket in South Africa had come to this point.

“It’ll be sad if we (continue) play just two matches in a series (in future),” said Elgar, referring to the two Test series’ against India and New Zealand.

“But, it is out of the players and coaches hands. It is sad we have gone into that direction.

“Players can only focus on what’s in front of them, it is what it is and we must move on.

“I think fixtures are vitally important; guys need to be exposed more against powerhouse nations. Everyone wants to compete against the best, as an individual and as a team. The more fixtures means the better you’ll play, so it boils down to the administrators who need to make the right calls for cricket.”

‘Not ideal’

Despite there being more T20 cricket happening all over the world and CSA prioritising the SA20, ahead of Test cricket, Elgar said there was still a future for the longest format of the game.

“Test cricket still has a future. By just speaking to the guys in the change room they live for the format,” he said.

“The situation we’ve been put in from the cricket fraternity is not ideal and the team picked to go to New Zealand might not be ideal, but irrespective of what’s happened behind the scenes there’s still a lot of hunger from the guys who will be playing and it’s an opportunity for those guys to put in big performances and maybe become regulars in the squad.”

CSA said in a statement on Tuesday night that they had the “utmost respect for the Test format as the pinnacle of the game we love.”

They added they had tried to find a different and more suitable time slot for the New Zealand tour, so it would not clash with the SA20, but “the constraints imposed by the global cricket calendar rendered this impossible, as the games must be played before April 25 as part of the World Test Championship.”

CSA added: “It is an opportunity to demonstrate the depth of talent that we have in South Africa.

“Our schedule for the remainder of the Future Tours Programme has been managed to ensure that there will not be any further clashes between our bilateral commitments and the SA20.”